Celtic Renewables produces vehicle fuel from distillery leftovers

Edinburgh, Scotland-based Celtic Renewables has become the first in the world to produce biofuel capable of powering cars from residues of the whisky industry. The company now plans to build a production facility in central Scotland after manufacturing the first samples of biobutanol from the by-products of whisky fermentation.

Celtic Renewables, a spin-out company from the Biofuel Research Centre (BfRC) at Edinburgh Napier University, has spent the last year developing its process at industrial-scale in Belgium as part of a £1 million (€1.4 million) programme funded by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) under its Energy Entrepreneurs Fund.

Celtic Renewables is now seeking funding from the Department for Transport's (DfT's) £25 million advanced biofuel demonstration competition and, if successful, hopes to build its first demonstration facility at the Grangemouth petrochemical plant by 2018.

Celtic Renewables, in partnership with the Ghent-based BioBase Europe Pilot Plant (BBEPP), produced the first samples of biobutanol from waste using a process called the Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE) fermentation earlier this month.

The biofuel is produced from draff (the sugar-rich kernels of barley which are soaked in water to facilitate the fermentation process necessary for whisky production), and pot ale (the copper-containing yeasty liquid that is left over following distillation).

Unveiling the first sample, Celtic founder and president professor Martin Tangney said: 'Showing the world our first sample of biofuel produced from whisky by-products is a proud moment for everyone involved. We have successfully taken a defunct technology and adapted it to current market conditions, attracting the investment and partners required to scale-up to industrial production and prove that this works at scale. This historic sample could herald a new era in sustainable biofuel and the birth of a UK industry worth £100 million-a-year.

Professor Wim Soetaert, CEO of the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, added: 'The Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant is designed to support innovative companies like Celtic Renewables to achieve such world leading breakthroughs, as Europe moves away from a fossil based to a bio-based economy.'

Winners of the DfT competition will receive funding of up to £12 million over three years to build a biofuel facility that should be operational by December 2018 and producing at least 1 million litres of biofuel-a-year.

Mark Simmers, CEO of Celtic Renewables, said: 'The process we have perfected takes residues that present a disposal issue to the whisky industry and creates value by producing not only sustainable biofuel but also green chemicals and high grade animal feed. The exciting challenge for us now as a business is to convert our proven technology into a multimillion pound industry, and building our first demonstration plant is the next critical step to achieving that goal.'

The by-products were provided by Tullibardine, the Perthshire distillery that has worked in partnership with Celtic Renewables since 2012.

If successful in its bid, the Edinburgh based-company hopes to build its first demonstration facility at the Grangemouth industrial site in Central Scotland, as part of a proposed redevelopment of the area.

 

SOURCE: Celtic Renewables